Day 2 - Monday - basketball, finca, sugar mill and Varadero
Monday morning I woke up with the roosters at 5:30 am...took nice shower at "our hotel"....heard CnF in kitchen and had some cafe con leche as the little boy (TLB) got ready for school...he had gone to sleep in his new LT and the mom had to force him to take it off for school clothes that included a RED scarf sort of tie...wow the brainwashing begins
i try to teach the boy a few things on the calculator...pushed to ask questions by CnF...we cover the basics...he knows that 3 square is 9...I give him a US dollar...he asked, what can I buy with this...and I say a Coca Cola...and he asked for another..and I said you have to work for it!! (always the teacher)....CnF ask if I have a 2 dollar US bill...they have a bill collection from around the world...the Mom tries to rush the boy for school as he wants to play with his new friend...the Tall Cuban...me
all boys are the same around the world...not wanting to go to school...
when we first came to this country I was only 5 years old...the school I went to St Johns in the DC area started at 1st grade...I was dropped off by my dad on his way to work...some nun ripped my lunch bag and told me to spit my gum into it...I did and the first chance I got I ran home!! (all in my first book Two Seconds to Go)
i ran home many times that first year...and by Christmas Charlie showed up and they would send him to chase me home...I was the fastest runner in the house...remember I have those African genes
Brandon woke up next (Austin likes to sleep in the mornings)...a quick Cuban coffee and off we went walking the streets...3 blocks away was El Presidente hotel...If you look hard you can see El National further down the Malecon
back at the house Steve and Austin wake up and are having their coffee con leche and the most tasty bananas that Austin has ever eaten....I try a little Cuban honey on my pan...and it is delicious...bringing back all kinds of memories
when I was 5 back in 1960, we used to get cafe con leche and pan with honey for only 5 cents at the local cafe....que rigo
Javier showed up ready to travel!!!...vamos he would say!! I start singing one of the few Spanish songs I can remember..."Pastories de Belen, vamos with alegria....a ver el nino ben, el hijo de Maria...aji, aji, aji nostespera Jesus...
entra, entra pastores entra...vamos a ver el recinacio, vamos a ver el nino Manuel...." (sorry I butcher that...but Steve got into the spirit and started singing with me...with Austin laughing and laughing
we once again piled into this little compact car...I hoped and pray that a van would appear on the second day...but no such luck...eventually it added to the fun of the trip as we piled in and out of the small car...people staring everywhere we went
"somos la familia Suarez-Gaston!!"
Javier had had to borrow $300 to put a deposit on the car and needed to pay his friend BEFORE we went to la finca
he stopped at a bank a few blocks away from our "hotel" and we exchanged another $500 for CUC...no one wants US dollars since it is 80 cents on the Cuban CUC...all the ladies come out of the back rooms to stare at el grande Americano with blue eyes...Esteban Cusinos (Steve Kitchens...mi hermano Americano fuerte and religious...PhD in Theology)
Austin has to change his Euros for CUC and takes a little longer...of course I talk to the guards who themselves play baseball and I ask if they have ever heard of El Duque and Luis Tiant....a huge discussion breaks out...one of the guards who knows English is explaining to Austin why the American dollar to Euros to CUC is not a great deal...he suggest Canadians....I give him a dollar CUC coin for his help....we leave everyone arguing about baseball and the ladies all clacking about Estaban
now we go to the court...cono...It is right next to all the BIG government buildings we saw last night...signs everywhere that say NO PHOTO!!
(ok..conspiracy theory...there were 3 or 4 pictures destroyed in our instamatic camera...they were of la case and the capital...any chance that we were zapped with some bright lite while at the capital...that can turn 3 or 4 pictures in our camera to all white?? probably just faulty film)
we arrived at the most famous basketball court in Cuba...where the Pan Am games were played...the place is in ruins
la policia stares at us as we pile 4 HUGE Americanos from this tiny car...and our driver Javier (built like a tank and ex-military...he looks more Italian then Cuban)
we run into el doctor...the dentist of the Cuban National team...they are off the island traveling (i played college ball not once was I home for Christmas..we always had a tournament somewhere...)
el doctor is passionate about basketball and about Manela...and asks for the FedEx from Mane (that I believe could have been mailed)...that was my golden ticket to the events which were about to take place (I had forgotten another FedEx for CnF from Tony Diez with stamps)
the second person we met was the Michael Jordon of Cuban basketball...60 year old black man about 5'8"...solid as a Rock
he had a smile that lights up the room....a true ambassador of Cuban basketball...(i was very surprise how little English he spoke, but I could tell he understood everything)...he played in the 1968, 1972 and 1976 Olympics...he was the point guard and they came in 3rd in 1972...the year the Russian stole the Gold from the USA (college players...no NBA back then)
then we met El Giant...6'5" 250 pounds 45 years old...we called him Moses Malone (Moses played in the ABA and NBA...he was one of the first players to jump from high school directly to the NBA...he was supposed to attend Maryland U and Moses and I share a rich history together (that can be read in my first Book Two Seconds to Go)....Moses is 6'10" and top 5 all time in scoring and rebounding in the NBA...If you combine his ABA and NBA records, he is the all-time leading rebounder...and I used to play against Moses in high school and all-star games...the first McDonalds All Star game in DC...I played for the DC all-stars...another story for another day)
El Giant had a smile that would melt many hearts...
the court was the best court in all of Cuba...It really dark as you can see by the pictures...the lights have been gutted out (and this is national monument to Castro's Sports Cuba)...the floor was old and torn with wooden splinters everywhere...the back board rattled and the whole thing almost came down with Austin was trying to show us that it had a break-a-way rim
another doctor appeared...he was a surgeon in his 50's who could hit the threes...apparently played with the Giant in some over 45 "masters" AAU tournament...the later ask if Steve Kitchens wants to play with them this summer....hey what about ME big boy...I am the one that SHUT you down!!
hey I played college ball and covered some of the best players in the country 1974-77...Including player of the year Marques Johnson of UCLA who I held to 4 free throws in the first half on national TV...(only one college game per week back then...on Sat at noon...only 3 channels back there and no ESPN)
another professor arrived....a coach with his son...the star of the university...a white guy looking very much like Brandon and Austin, but half the ball player...Brandon and this college kid...an engineer...hit it off and traded emails address...the future...our only HOPE
we had ONE ball..dam!!...(where was uncle Charlie with his trusty ball...or Big Fred that would have bought us another one and 24 waters too)...so while the Giant warmed up...I took some pictures of MJ with different people...
3 on 3...even in Cuba I have to take over and coach...Brandon, Austin and I against Steve Kitchens, the Giant and the college kid...(MJ cannot play since he just had an internal operation and his knees are shot)
needless to say we won...who on the whole island is going to stop Austin? 6'5" all-time leading three point shooter at my high school and over 1,500 points..with dunks on YouTube...just search "Austin Suarez dunk"
i have to cover the Giant...and he does not like losing...he posts me up...he grabs my hands on rebounds...he pushes...and he has beautiful passes (like the Europeans and Bill Walton) to his teammates
i give my spot to the dentist (who cannot play) and they replace the young college kid with the surgeon that can shoot threes....
my boys win again...as Austin and the Giant battle it out inside...now Austin is warmed up and probably the best player on the island...
the coach asks me if I can bring down Austin's team to scrimmage against the national team...I say Austin does NOT have a team
this 6'6" shooting guard, All State...top 3 players in Tampa (the best being 6'10" Henson playing for UNC) and top 5 shooting guard in the State...having traveled all over the Country playing AAU ball in NY. Vegas, Dallas, and the big one the Milkhouse Disney...for 2 years..(sophomore and junior year of high school)
this golf player who also qualified for States in golf...the gold capital of the world...and finished in the top half of the player...shooting a 79 on a day with 30 mph wind and a course with 250 bunkers
this volleyball player...who has the school record in kills...this tennis player who has a 120 mph serve...this bowler who breaks 200....this high jumper that jump once in a school meet and beat everyone else...this football player that went 10 for 10 in 2 point conversion when playing for the 8th grade football team
this 8th grader who hit 5 threes on the varsity team and led the team in scoring as a FRESHMAN
but that no D1 school offered a scholarship...the recruiting system is broken and many college coaches should be fired...oh yea, the USF and UCF coach were fired!!! dam shame
but it all turned out well since my 6'6" baby with the sweetest three you will ever see, was burnt out (Dad's fault...his high school coaches fault where they play 150 games a year now)
by not playing college ball, Austin got to be a "normal" student for the first time in his life...no waking up at 6 am to run...no getting home at 1 am to study for the next day’s exams....a regular student...aye que ricgo
anyways at the end of the games...we took some team pictures...Austin and Brandon are working on lightening up the pictures by using Picassa...Steve had the electronic pictures yet to come (he is with the in-laws in Idaho...freezing his butt off)
the Giant slowly walked over to the bench a DEFEATED man...first by an overweight with no knees 55 year old...and then by a 20 year old young whopper snapper with NO Respect for his elders....I asked him if he had medicine for his aching knees...and he said "no, no no medicina"....so I went to the car and gave him my bottle of Advil..he kissed my hand and I walked away crying like a baby...
we exchanged emails...and I gave them Berkeley basketball t-shirts which they all proudly put on
and we all piled back into the little car with Javier our driver...who just got to meet the MJ of Cuba and watch the best basketball game of his life...too bad he had cowboy boots on (for La Finca and Sugar Mill)
so we all piled in the subcompact...all sweating and thirsty
they did not even have water fountains in the best court in Cuba...and even if they did we would not drink that salty water...the revolution with all the Russian technology stolen from the Americans can't even get that right (US carriers travel around the world with unlimited supply of drinking water because or the ocean waters and little know how)
so MrT (transporter) stops at a roadside truck for 8 waters...8 pesos...Austin breaks out some protien bars and offers MrT one...he takes it like he is one of the guys...happy as can be like a school boy with his homies
i try to follow the towns as we pass (Charlie and Xavier prepared me so well)...but we were going to fast...the cows on the side of the road looked like they had stripes instead of spots (from the TV show Frasier)...and Steve said he has never seen cows run so fast...
we arrived in Gauvybal..a town so small that if you blink you miss it...again many people on the road but no one is working...and this is Monday morning...I guess they only work when the harvest comes in?? if it ever comes in...why work when the government gives you food and shelter for nothing??
MrT is a pro at getting directions...we go back and forth past the road (I know) we must take...but it adds to the fun...and he is a professional driver and has the exact address and it is next the to the BIG white military school which everyone knows where it is, but no one knows where it is
(Charlie adds that all the street signs have been stole for firewood...but the government provides everyhing you need...why steal)
finally MrT turns off the main 2 lane road into a one land road...we ask some workers sleeping or siesta around a 1960 Russian trucker...Steve asks me...why are they all sleeping in the middle of the day
then further up (I can see the white militarty school....God has given me the gift of a photographic memory...plus a little hard work on my part...so I recognice the orange groves that were NOT here when left Cuba...I wonder why they are growing organes...I know that Florida oranges are not good...and only used for concentrate and poor people...the good ones come from California and South America...
then MrT stops again...to ask a kid on a bike he does not know but points to the military school....Austin has to get out...after playing basketball and dunking a few times and beating the MJ of Cuba...his knees need to stretch...he walks over to the pig (I know this is the road from the pictures, from my memory, from Google, from my heart...
a take a picture of Austin feeding the pig and think about our pig Chocolot and when he got slaughter...squeeling like a pig...and thinking of Gov. Palin and her Alaska show
but the driver says move on and I play the game a little longer...a game I have played for many years with my boys (of being lost or running out of gas)
we pass the school and we ask these two man cleaning a bus...the point to the Suarez-Carreno finca...on the other side of the school...the kids get excited...and my blood pressure begins to rise
MrT asked what do you guys think...I say...this is it!! go up the dirt road
we drive up a dirt road and we "unfold" ourselves from the car....
we walk up and there is Raul the manager of the farm called Santa Anna...he is an engineer but the State told him he had to run this State own farm
Raul has a GREAT smile and memory...he lists all the bother and sisters and neices who have come through
he says we all look alike...he asks about MAchito and BIG FRED!!! cono BF again??
he walks us to the house that Manuel Suarez-Carreno built...almost like a tour guy
we ask him about the many BIG cows he has...and he says they are MILKING cows (keep your stinkie fingers off my cows)
and the BIG pigs...he says they are not mine...they below to the govt....my mouth is watering for some arroz on pig...lol
he is proud to tell us the story about his dad and his new 10 day old child...he said he would invite us for dinner but that now is not a good time for his wife to cook....I offer $20 for the baby, but he refuses...and says next time give him enough warning and he will roast a pig...and have a big fiesta...I promise to come back...knowing this is on once in a lifetime visit...not too sure I ever want to visit a State run farm next to a military school
we depart hugging each other...I start to cry and walk to the car...
VAMOS, vamos a la sugar mill...
we left la finca and down that dirt road for the last time in my life...so many times I walked that road running after my father's car as he drove away back to work in Havana (I miss him so much)
what a man he was Manuel Antonio Suarez-Carreno...6 foot tall with black hair...born in 1912 in Havana, Cuba
he went to Belen where he played basketball and tennis...back in his days, they had a Jump Ball after EVERY basket....so he and his brother PAtrick dominated the jump ball...and would shoot the 2 handed set shot
one day back in Tampa in 1978, my Dad 66 years old...beat me (the college player) in a game of h-o-r-s-e he would also beat me regular in Tennis, until his second major car accident in Tampa in 1980, that aged him for good
MAS (Dad Suarez) attended Villanovo U. in Phili, Penn where he played tennis on the team and was quoted in the the yearbook as a "a party man"...he went shovel coal for 25 cents a DAY!! to make a little extra money while in college
he return to Cuba with his Chemical and Civel Engeering degree where he help manage his wife's sugar mill (El Dolores)...he help build housing for the workers, a chapel and of course a tennis court and baseball field
it is said he played baseball with the workers and was pretty good at that too
while at Dolores he had a few kids...and then moved onto El Nela, the sugar mill of his father (I saw grandpa once in the US...he was in his 90's and a shell of his former self...we watched the US land on the moon and he said "that is hollywood"
while at El Nela housing for the workers were built, a chapel, and a tennis court of course...also a baseball field
having kids continued...like Dad said "when you are out in the country and there is no TV, what else can you do at night"
he was married to Eloise Suarez-GAston...a beautiful bride from a wealth family in Havana...pure white soft skin with a heart of gold...both were very religious and close with the Church and the JEsuits from Spain
MAS would fly his little plane from Havana to El Nela...a 4 hr car ride....and he also had boats for fishing
it is told that his grandfather bought the land which was a SWAMP!!! they laughed at him...he borrowed $250,000 on a handshake and then rented some American trackers and drain the swamp...and El Nela was borned
by the time they had 6 or 8 kids, Mom decided it was time to move back to Havana....the girls need proper schooling and social life....
so Manuel did what he always did when Mom spoke....like Jesus in the Bible, he followed orders
the Gaston family helped my family with 6 or 8 kids buy a 5 bedroom house in Biltmore...across the street from Villanova where dad became Dean of Engineer and earned his PhD while starting a following of students who would later help the family in the US...especially Charlie Busot and Carlos Smith in Tampa after dad retired from Bechtel
but while in Havana, Dad needed a place in the country to get the dirt between his fingers...so they bought La Finca only 30 minutes from home...there he could work in his "factory" cooking up sugar cane to make alcohol to run the plant for electricity....there some more babies were born....there this growing family could play all day in the fields eating banana's off the trees and go horse back riding...Dad even built a pool to go swimming...It was more of a frog pool then an real pool, but that did not stop us...there we would roast a pig and hear the workers have their fiesta after a hard week of work
but then came Fidel and the end of fairy tale story of a family with 14 children (the top 8) Lourdes, George, Teri, Lala, Margy, Ely, Mane, Rosi (the bottom 6) X, Charlie, Mel, Maria, Manny (me), and Big Fred
a war broke out between Dictator Batista and the revolutionary Fidel Castro...on NEw YEars 1959 Fidel took over Havana...they held a parade in NY City to honor the man who defeated the dictator....AT&T and AMerican Fruit and Sugar Co invested heavily in Fidel...as did the MAfia families and the CIA
Fidel nationalize most American companies and made a deal with devil....Russia
Dad and several sisters were thrown in jail for counter-revolution speeches and activities...the US tried to help the counter revolution and we had the fiasco The Bay of Pigs...a complete failure of the Kennedy brothers in the White House
(this Kennedy failure of an island only 90 miles off of Key West, would lead to the US getting involved in Vietnam 4,000 miles away in Asia and the death of 50,000 americans over a 10 year period....talk about MAcho pride and MArilyn Monroe)
so Dad believed in God, FAmily and Country....and decided to save his family...and work from the US to get his country back...he left the island...and shortly thereafter his family followed and settled in the DC area...at first he worked at CAtholic University but eventually started buildign Nuclear Power Plants around the world for Bechtel retiring in 1976 at age 65...and moved to Tampa to be with his former students at USF...and continue his dream of making alchol from sawdust and elephant grass
i would live those last years with Dad and Mom in Tampa...as I started my own career as a teacher and coach...just like my dad...they eventually moved to Ft LAuderdale and finally to Miami...so close to Cuba, but never saw the homeland again...one of their proudest moment was seeing Xavier become Mayor of Miami and play host to the Pope and Mother Teresa...and to see their baby Big Fred get married...there life now complete...they died within one year of each other...with over 50 grandchildren and another 40 or so greatgrandchildren...up to over 50 now in 2010...many traveling back to the homeland to visit and pay their respect...and help in any way they can
sorry for that Digression, but it was a story that had to be told...and remember...a man in his 50's at the height of his career with 14 kids...had to flee his country...and start from scratch...not too many men could have survived that cross
so Javier our driver said Vamos...and off we went to look for some place to eat....Austin passed out some protien bars to tie us over...MrT (transporter) found a little restaurant recommended by Raul the manager of LA Finca...this rest was run by a family...old man, wife, son, daughter and husband...so cute so quaint
we were the only ones there...and they treated us Americanos like Kings...MrT order everything on the menu and the food started coming out as we drank cuevesta and coca cola...and Austin told the pretty girl (with her husband watching) that she had pretty nails...
at the end of the meal, the old man gave us a tour of his little garden and house he built with his son...they had been recently shut down for 5 years because he built a small pool for fish without getting a permit!! (also known as a bribe)
as we were leaving la policia and some government looking men sat down for a beer...
when we first opened the menu it said $24.00 for a beer, $48 for a ham sandwish....I said wait a minute!!! I can not afford those prices...lets go...but our driver MrT said no, no those are Cuban pesos...the exchange rate is 24 to 1
the finally bill was $480!!! or $40 for 5 meals and 9 appatisers...and 10 or so beers and coca colas
i gave the old man a $20 tip
and Vamos, Vamos to the Sugar Mill...a 4 hr ride from Havana...
but we need petro first...back to havana to get the BIG highway and Petro...at $1.50 a liter...It cost us $75 for 15 gallons (about $5 a gallon) thank goodness we had a little car that got good gas milage...
so MrT steps on the gas as we travel the most famous highway in Cuba...starting in Havana and ending in Santa Clara
i am told that these major highways were built by the Russians for the same reason the the US built its intersate system in the 1960's...to move troops and supply quickly...depending on where the US was landing for the invasion...
MrT goes 160 kph...about 100 mph...all kinds of vehicle are on this super highway...from brand new shining Tour buses full of Europeans and Canadians escaping the cold winter....to old man in one horse driven carts (no minimum speed on this super highway)...there seems to be 3 different types of bus transportation...the nice buses (but not as nice as the Big TOur buses) that transport middle class cubans like doctors and government officials...the bus used by the working people...packed like sardines..spewing out all kinds of fumes...stopping every 5 or 6 miles to pick up more passengers that it can not hold and the 3rd type are military trucks full of black poor people...mainly man looking for work or whatever...these trucks are nasty and you can almost smell the human flesh
again I did not see any skinny Cubans (a side note...my nick name was "Pollo Flaco" growing up...I was so skinny you could see my ribs...so I know what hunger is...when my friends would buy candy...I would buy a loaf of bread)
now I eat way too much....and I am weighing close to 280...my playing weight in college was 210...my goal is to stay under 300 until I die...right now I am taking 4 pills every morning...blood pressure, arthritis, cholorstal and blood thinner...wearing eye glasses for the first time and need a hearing aid....say what?? like I have told my 14 brothers and sisters my goal was to see the year 2000...everything since then has been gravy or icing on the cake...but I am ready to go...I have lived a full life and I do not look forward to the aches and pains of the next 20 years...but will enjoy my grandkids as much as possible
yes, yes, I also have ADD like 95% of the population...lol
so we are traveling down this highway and every 5 or 10 miles or so (everything in Cuba is Mas or Menos)...there is a police check point...also called "control points"....we must slow down to 20,15,10...and be waved on...we have Diplomatic Plates
down goes the accelerator...MrT has been told we need to see the sugar mill BEFORE dark!! (I will let my son Brandon describe the scene on the roadside...with 1,000 of hitchhikers...and people trying to sell garlic in the middle of the super highway, as we zoom by at 160 kph...we also hit a couple of potholes that sent the 3 of us in the back seat to the roof of the car
MrT gets us to Montaza in only 1.5 hrs!!! (a 2.5 hr drive)....we just save an hour of light in warp speed
MrT finds the BIG working sugar mill...and we start the asking for directions to El Dolores all over again...this time stopping int he church downtown...we are giving direction to El Dolores (they also call ahead and warn the suger mill that we are coming)
at the gate of the sugar mill there are 100 people chit chatting or waiting for a bus..or who knows whatever....we ask for the sugar mill and they call is Jose Valdez (I think), then we ask for the old name...and everyone shouts El DOLORAS
we drive up to the chapel...I recongize it from the pictures...It now has a fence all around it...to keep animals out I assume
the person inside lets us in (Steve Kitchens took some good pictures inside...lets see when we get those)....and then the Queen walks in...very refine...wearing a sho over her shoulder in 70 degree weather...we slowly walk up to her house...and we see a bunch of men working on a backboard for the basketball court (or is that a tennis court??)
we walk into the house and 6 or 7 chairs have been placed in a circle...we sit down and are offered Cuban coffee...the kind that takes the hair off your chest and puts it at the roof of your mouth...we also get glasses of water (half filled...dam I am thirsty)
after some introductions we try to communicate...and how is Fred??
Brandon here the bouncing of a basketball and decides to go challenge the locals...Austin follows grateful to get the hell out of the house and adult conversation...(I too continue to peak out the window...hoping I can too escape los viejos...lol)
make that Jaime Lopez!!! not too sure where the hell I got Jose Valdez...maybe from the Jaun Valdez coffee commercials
BTW great photos on Google earth of the Sugar Mill...you can see the top of the chapel and the basketball/tennis court
the sugar mill is a CITY!!! or a town I should say
being so close to Havana in Mantaza...one should always go visit!!! when visiting Havana.....
the people of El Dolores does NOT get daily news from the US like the people in Havana with emails and such
they are desperate for news of the family...I think a video of one of the GAston reunions would be awesome
and another basketball would help too...
BTW there were 40 kids out there and aobut 20 men in their 30's....I did not see any skinny people
in fact they were dress very nicely....and many had watches
i do not believe these are the poor of the poor of Cuba....
the look in their faces is the HOPE of Cuba...they are ready to conquer the New World in 2012 AFTER CASTRO!!
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there was lot of feelings and emmotions as we drove the super highway towards the middle of the country
again the first thing that came to MY mind and the 4 of us in our car was....how could the people of Cuba be starving with all this furtile land...this country should not only be able to feed its 11 million people, but also be a HUGE exporter of produce
(I personally would stay away from the Sugar and Tobacco....did you now Dole no longer grows pineapples in Hawaii?? no sir the land is way too valuable for that...they grown thier pineapple in the Phillipines...plus Phillipine labor is much cheaper... I would grow food that people can eat!! and replace the South American market with the extra's...)
we drove up to the GRAND Central sugar mill...and Javier says "is this it?"...cono, Celia told me that Javier had the address of LA Finca and El Dolores...how can he be this far off...
i said no, our sugar mill is much smaller...and we proceeded into town...I asked him to stop at the church and we inquired there...where is the Chapel at El Dolaros...we got new directions...(by the time we got to the sugar mill, the church downtown had already called El D and told the Reina that we were coming...so they DO have phone service...I bet they have MAIL service too!!..hear that Tia Lala)
hell after my troubles with the Miami, USA (I think?) mail service, I bet it is pretty good in this country of only 11 million people and very few large communities like El D...now what was the name of that mill again...oh yea..Jaime Lopez!! the new name of El D
i already told the story of the people knowing El D the OLD name of the sugar mill...and us seeing the chapel
i must admit I did get a choked up with I saw the stain glass window that had been hidded for 29 years...and now replaced
i would have loved to have seen a service...but I believe more people were watching the basketball game of my sons, then attend church at Sunday...(I hope I am wrong)...I know in this country only 30% of Catholics in Boston go to church on Sunday regularly...and we all know what kind of Catholics the Kennedy's were...
LA Reina was in charge...and accepted the suitcase of medicine that Lala had put together via Big Fred....and the questions continued...how is Big Fred...but this suitcase contain more medicine for som Fr Daniel than for La Reina...her stern look show me her disappointment...the second suitcase had clothes for the people of the Mill...but nothing that La Reina would wear...
she kept asking me of the "envolope" from Lala...several times she asked me for the envelope....like she was expecting a payoff...I eventually gave her $40 on the way out...I had planned to give a 100, but her dimeanor turned me off...
the guy I liked was the old 80 year old man who kept smiling and talking about Dad and PAtrick playing basketball with the workers...and he asked about Fred several times too
then came the big moment when they offered us dinner and I had to tell them that we had already eaten...they got depressed (I am sure they got over it later when they realize they had enough to eat for 3 days!!)
we did sit down and ate the Flan...very good...and a half of glass of water...boy was I thirsty...Javier had Flan with us too
and then Javier said Vamos!! and off we went
Brandon and Austin passed out 40 protien bars to the kids...and I was a little disappointed when I saw wrappers on the ground...(just like American kids at my school...leaving their trash for the adults to pick up)
i only felt sorry for the 10 or so men who in the dark were still trying to put the other backboard up...La Reina would scold them for that...
and I thought how sad that the rims do not even have nets...all you need is string for that...even the poor kids in LA or Detroit or NY can make little nets to put on the rims...are the Cubans that lazy or really do not care about a silly net like the americans
well vamos to Varadero and a good shower (remember we played basketball that morning) and we were beginning to stink in that car...5 men
oh now I remember...we also stink because Austin and Brandon had just played 2 more hours of basketball with the kids
we were getting ripe!!
PS: we has the traditional eating of the cane...and even the Americano joined in...I took a stack for my new homeland the USA I will display it affectionally in my classroom or office back in Tampa (if the Cuban security or the US immigrations do not take it away from me..."vamos a ver")
we arrive at Varadero late Monday night after playing ball with the 1972 olympic players, visiting la finca and El D and riding all over the country....we check in at our "hotel" and Javier asks if we need him anymore...so I asked him, if he wants to come to the club with us...his face lights up!! "porque no?"
we pile back into the car...and off we go to the BIG RESORTS...but we quickly find out that they will not let you into the Bars at the resort unless you have a braclet showing you are staying there....or willing to pay $100 a person to get in...we plan just to have a few beers and then go to bed...
so MrT calls his cousin and he suggests a little pub with an all girl band...dam shame
we sit down and very soon the place is packed...we order burgers and fries and mucho cevesta and mohitoes and Cuba libras
two good looking chickas in their 30's sit down next to us...and Austin leans over and say "commo estas...habla engles?"
they say yes, we are from Canada...and Austin lights up like a light bulb...yahoo fiesta!!
the all girl band begins to play and it is standing room only....It is interesting to see how the host sits people...the tourist with wrist bands from the expensive hotels get seats right up front near the stage...the BIG black guys with the Gold chains and big cigars are sat on the side near the door, but also near the bar for quick service...the locals are moved to the back
our waiter is not happy we are not drinking enough and gives us our bill....but we are not paying and we are not leaving...lol
then Austin pops the question to the ladies...."want to dance the Salsa?"...of course and off they went...my two boys (Men) and two ladies from Canada in their 30's looking for some good times...double dam shame...Austin will have to retell the story at the next family reunion...It is so funny...needless to say they have a blast...and me, Steve and MrT are hallowing at the sight...
we head back to the "hotel" at 11 pm and MrT goes to stay with his cousin...
oh I forgot Mr.T's wife called while the boys were dancing...and she told him to come home...and he said "Pero yo soy trabijanto!!" and hung up and we all broke up laughing
back at the "hotel" we walk across the street to check out the beach....It is beautiful even at night...a luna yena
we play some cards and fall asleep with the dogs barking and wake up at 5:30 am with the roosters...even at Varadero Beach...dam shame
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